Stephen Vasciannie TWO MATTERS have prompted me to write about the TVJ Schools' Challenge Quiz today. The first is the publication of Olive Senior's exciting Encyclopaedia of Jamaican Heritage (by Twin Guinep Publishers) and the second is the appearance of a Junior Schools' Challenge Quiz.
Perhaps I do Ms. Senior a disservice by linking her wide-ranging publication to a single television competition. But, you see, many will tell you that an earlier publication of Ms. Senior, The A-Z of Jamaican Heritage, has been the basic reference text on Jamaican Heritage for Schools' Challenge Quiz since 1983. The current publication, the Encyclopaedia, builds on the 20-year-old precursor, but retains some of the main items of information, and reproduces the format; from my initial reading, it is the classic A-Z, plus.
About two weeks ago, a 10-year-old wanted to know about the arrival of followers of Islam to Jamaica. I had a general recollection about an intellectual debate carried in the newspapers, involving Sultana Afroz, Maureen Warner-Lewis, Clinton Chisolm and others, but the details escaped me. Even without purchasing chicken at Paul Skeen's favourite restaurant, I was able to work on it: I quickly looked up 'Muslim' in the Encyclopaedia, and there, found more than enough to have the 10-year-old on the path to enlightenment.
But, it must be said, the Encyclopaedia is addictive. Having found information on Muslims, including a reference to 'Afroz, Sultana. 1995, 'The Unsung Slaves: Islam in the Plantation Society', Caribbean Quarterly 41: 3 & 4', and one to Ivor Wilks from 1967 on 'Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq of Timbuktu', I was now pulled in two directions. Should I pursue these references immediately for my own education or should I plunge enthusiastically into other areas of knowledge in the Encyclopaedia?
OPIYEL GUOBIRAN
The latter prevailed, and so, there I was spending time pursuing entries on Duppy Fly Trap, Shark Papers, Water Square (Falmouth), Opiyel Guobiran (one of the 12 principal zemis of the Tainos), Cricket (do you remember those stamps from the 1968 M.C.C. Tour?), Literature (which justifiably is given about 4 1/2 precious pages), Lucea Clock (with the story once used by the Prime Minister), Calico Jack, Geffrard Place, etc., etc.
And, back to the quiz connection. Many students will not be motivated simply to reach for an encyclopaedia simply for reading's sake in early days, therefore, it helps that reading is part of a structured form of activity, and if it can be part of an exciting competition, then more power to the enquiring mind.
For years, then, TVJ has had the opportunity to influence reading habits and prompt a deepening of knowledge of Caribbean culture simply by making it clear that questions from this area will be posed in the quiz competition. For this reason, hundreds of students have more than a passing familiarity with, for example, Clinton V. Black's Jamaica Guide, The Gleaner's Geography and History of Jamaica, Brian Dyde's Caribbean Companion and Kenneth Ramchand's West Indian Narrative, books which may not be formally part of the secondary school syllabus, but which encourage self-knowledge and personal development.
ENCOURAGING OPEN MINDS
So, once again, TVJ is to be commended for the quiz, and for encouraging us to open our minds through the apparently narrow portals of trivia to wide vistas of knowledge concerning the humanities, the sciences, and almost everything in between. But, again as I commend TVJ, I pause to remind the station of the need to be sensitive to student concerns, even as they promote the competition.
Here is the point. For over 30 years, TVJ has so organised the timing of the competition that it reaches its grand finale a few weeks before the Advanced Level and Ordinary Level Examinations. Thus, in the typical year, with A level examinations beginning in late May, students on teams that do well in the competition find themselves hard-pressed to study for the most important examinations they may have to face while they simultaneously gather information for the quiz.
This is unfair to the students, and it is neither a necessary nor desirable part of the quiz competition. TVJ could easily have the quiz organised so that it could end in, say, December or January of the academic year, and this would leave time for students to sharpen up their preparations for final examinations.
SPONSORSHIP AND TIMING
Why does TVJ resist this idea? Mrs. Forbes (who has been keen not to take the quiz for granted) was once inclined to change the timing of the competition in the interest of students, but, this did not come to pass. From time to time it is suggested that sponsors prefer the current arrangements, but this argument is difficult to follow. As noted above, there is now a Junior Schools' Challenge quiz: this new competition must have some degree of sponsorship even though it does not stretch into April or May of the academic year.
So, the sponsorship argument is inadequate, and in any event, TVJ cannot assume that merely by saying that sponsors prefer the current timing arrangements they are foreclosing the debate.
Of course, one may argue that most schools seem quite contented with the current dispensation. Given the knockout nature of the competition, the problem of timing becomes a matter of special concern mainly to the sixteen or so schools each year, but only about six of these schools tend to be in the later stages on a fairly regular basis. And, of these, precious few have publicly voiced concerns about timing.
But, even if schools do not complain, the problem remains. Schools' challenge preparation if done well is pleasant but strenuous work. If TVJ appears insensitive to this serious complaint, in the long run some of the stronger schools in the competition will probably just lose interest, and standards will inevitably fall. This cannot be the intention of those who organise and present one of the most popular local programmes on television with such style and meticulous attention to detail.
Stephen Vasciannie is Professor of International Law, and Head of the Department of Government, in the University of the West Indies. He is a also consultant at the Attorney-General's Chambers.
